Frequently, a hospital stay involves the administration of controlled low flow fluids to a patient. This may be particularly so for acutely ill patients, such as those who have just had major surgery.
Flush devices are often employed to deliver controlled low fluid flow rates to patients. Flush devices are required to have certain characteristics. The first characteristic is that the flow be rated specific to the flush device and that it be accurate. The flow rate will often be a low or very low rate such as three cubic centimeters per hour. Second, the device must operate in this slow flush mode as it's default. Third, it must be able to be flushed at a much faster rate. The rapid flush should be possible only with operator input.
Currently available devices are often inaccurate due to very small dimension capillaries. Further, these capillaries are difficult to manufacture and expensive. They may leak and potentially lead to infection. Lastly, while all available flush devices allow switching between the default slow flush and the manual fast flush, none allow the device to be locked in the default slow flush mode. Cosequently, they may be inadvertantly fast flushed, causing dangerous quantities of fluid and/or air to enter the patient.